Is this the new Grand Theft Auto V?

Shane McGlaun, 26th March 2012

And one of the most popular game franchises out there is Grand Theft Auto, which has been around for many years. As you may recall, GTA is also one of many games that angered lawmakers and spawned multiple copycat titles.

Before we get into the latest rumors about GTA V, let me just say for the record that I find the report below quite dubious. Really, anyone who wants to believe such speculation should have a full salt shaker handy.

The dubiousness kicks off in a post made to GameSpot forums, which was, interestingly enough, quickly deleted, yet still available via Google cache.

The post opened by claiming: "I am a friend of someone who recently got sacked from RockStar North for general misconduct. Because one contract to RockStar covered everything, including secrecy, and his contractual obligation was now removed, he was legally allowed to spill the beans on Rockstar's upcoming GTA V. And he is making damn sure everyone knows about it."

Two things strike me as odd about this, if the person wasn't afraid of the NDA any longer, why have a friend post it and why not use names? It also struck me as strange that the poster notes his "friend" was fired for misconduct. Even if these tips are true, admitting you were fired for misconduct does very little to lend to your credibility.

The tipster reports that the single playable character in the game will be Albert de Silva, and apparently he will have a son, who is "useless" and a stereotypical CoD player. What that has to do with the game, we don't know. The source alleges multiple player support on consoles with up to 32 participants, with the ability for players to form their own gangs. The gangs - ranked by reputation - will supposedly be able to execute missions of their own.

Other interesting tidbits include a map said to be five times larger than the one used in GTA IV, which wil supposedly be divided into three parts (Los Santos is about half the total map area). The tipster also claims new aircraft, cars, and weapons will be available in V, while some of them will be customizable to a certain extent.

You can check out the cached page and see all the questionable details for yourself. Let us know if you believe any of it, because I certainly don't.